Horshack's New Role

Former 'Kotter' Sweathog Now Teaches Acting

PALM SPRINGS — Arnold Horshack is back, this time as a high school teacher.

Fans of the popular 1970s TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter may be surprised to learn the latest role for the actor who played the goofball student is that of a serious educator in Palm Beach County.

Ron Palillo, whose Horshack character brought laughter to millions of viewers, is in his second week teaching freshmen acting classes at G-STAR School of the Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting in Palm Springs.

None of his 110 students resemble the unruly students called the Sweathogs, who carried on at the fictional Brooklyn high school setting for four seasons of Kotter.

"These kids want to be here," Palillo said during a campus interview. "You don't have to fight to jam something down their throats. They want to know and it shows."

During Monday's class held in a black box theater, he led a discussion of the acclaimed Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie. Wearing a purple shirt and khaki pants on his still-slender 5-foot-7-inch frame, Palillo paced back and forth, asking students to appreciate the clever dialogue in the first act.

"That's why you like doing theater, because you can say some really terrific words," said Palillo, who wrote, produced and acted in several plays since Kotter ended in 1979.

Palillo - at school he uses his birth name Paolillo - says he is moving permanently to the county from his longtime residence in New York City.

The gray-haired teacher declines to confirm his age, listed as 60 on several websites, because he says actors don't reveal such details. Palillo said he'd prefer to avoid media attention, but agreed to a round of publicity because of the attention his celebrity status could bring to G-STAR.

The six-year-old charter school, with 880 students in grades 9-12, bills itself as the largest film, TV and acting high school in the nation. Palillo, who has coached actors over the years, said he became enamored with G-STAR and its students after recently performing in the school's latest feature film, It's a Dog Gone Tale: Destiny's Stand.

"It's been exciting having him here," Greg Hauptner, the school's founder and chief executive officer, said of his star teacher.

A University of Connecticut graduate, Palillo says his acting and stage projects will continue when classes are not in session.

"I love to teach, that's paramount," said Palillo, who signed on to teach the school year at a beginning teacher's salary.

Xavier Turner, 15, said he's enjoyed the class so far.

"I didn't even know he was on the show," Turner said. "I was very impressed and honored to have him in our class. It's better to know an actor is teaching us."

While Palillo is best known for Welcome Back, Kotter, he later appeared in numerous television pilots, shows and movies, and he has illustrated children's books. His resume includes guest stints on episodes of One Life to Live, Murder, She Wrote and Ellen.

Palillo says he's happy that Arnold Horshack lives on in Kotter YouTube clips and DVDs. And he doesn't mind when his students quote his nasally voiced lines or raise their arms with "Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh!"

"It's history," he said. "It's flattering."

Marc Freeman can be reached at mjfreeman@SunSentinel.com or 561-243-6642.